2400th
Article
Part
2: The Sweet Six
CHRIS MILLER - $93,844
Chris’s moment in the sun on
Jeopardy compared to others on this list and those I’ve mentioned before is
relatively brief. His first appearance on Jeopardy was in April of 2004 and his
last was in May of 2005. But what a light he left behind.
Over the first five games played
in April of 2004 he won four games in runaways and $123,597 over the course of
them. He was then defeated by Scott Renzoni (known to the Jeopardy world as
Renzo) on April 8th. Renzo then won four games and $112,998 before
he was defeated. Two months later Ken Jennings entered the Jeopardy stage and
Chris became the only player in Season 20 to win exactly five games. (Sean Ryan
won six and Tom Walsh won seven and I’ll talk about them later on.)
When Season 21 started Ken
Jennings’ streak was paused for the 2004 Tournament of Champions. Chris would
face off against Russ Schumacher (the ultimate winner of the tournament and Tom
Baker, who won just over $102,000 in three games in the quarterfinal. That was
Tom’s day in the son and both Russ and Chris would be fortunate to advance to
the semi-finals via wildcard.
In the semi-finals Chris drew Tom
Walsh and Anne Boyd, who’d won $84,600 in four games a month before Ken arrived
on the scene. Chris did better this time and was leading going into Final
Jeopardy.
The category was POETS. “A San
Francisco resident since the 1950s, in 1998 he became the city’s first Poet
Laureate.” Chris was the only player who didn’t write down the correct
response: “Who is Ferlinghetti?” As a result he went home with $10,000. That
Halloween he dressed up as Ken Jennings. He didn’t know that just a few months
later he would be back on the Jeopardy stage fighting for a chance to play
against him.
Chris managed a narrow runaway
victory against Mike Thayer and Dennis Donohue in his victory in Round 1 which
netted him $21,799. He then faced off against Ryan Holznagel and Dave Traini,
both of whom had significantly more postseason play then him. (In addition to
his Tournament of Champions win Ryan had participated in the 1995 International
Tournament. Dave had been a finalist in the 1987 Tournament of Champions as
well as the only season of Super Jeopardy in 1990.) The Jeopardy round was
pretty much dead even with Chris finishes in second behind Dave.
However in Double Jeopardy both
Ryan and David moved swiftly ahead and Chris spent much of the round in third.
It was only because Dave got four clues incorrect in the category EXPERTISE OF
AREA and Chris made a late surge in the category SANTA’S EIGHT TINY REINDEER
that he ended up in front with $11,600 to Ryan’s $11,022 (don’t ask) and Dave’s
$9000. Still it was far from certain he’d prevail.
The Final Jeopardy category was
IN THE DICTIONARY. “Much in the news of the world at the end of June 2004, it’s
the only English word to contain ‘GNT’ consecutively.” As Alex noted before the
responses were revealed: “This is one of those toughies that either comes to
you immediately, as it appeared to with Chris, or you struggle and struggle and
struggle.” And Chris was the only one with the correct response: “What is
sovereignty?” (Iraqi sovereignty was at the center of the news during that
period.) Chris added $10,445 to finished with the odd total of $22,045.
Chris faced off against Matt
Zielenski and Lan Djang in the quarterfinal, as I mentioned in my previous
entry on the UTC. Chris had the best game with 20 correct responses and 1
incorrect response. As a result he finished with $18,200 to Lan’s $9600 and Matt’s
$8400 – almost, but not quite, a runaway. The Final Jeopardy category was
NATIONAL ANTHEMS: “Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore wrote the national
anthems of these 2 countries.” Chris was again the only player to come up with the two correct countries: “What are
India and Bangladesh?” (Both Matt and Lan wrote down India and Sri Lanka.)
Chris’ total was bumped up to $30,000 and he faced John Cuthbertson and Brad
Rutter in the second set of semi-final games.
Chris was able to keep up mainly
because of Brad’s overreach on a Daily Double early in the Jeopardy round of
Game 1 and Brad’s being the only player to give an incorrect response in Final
Jeopardy that same day. As a result he and Brad were tied with $10,000 apiece
at the end of the first day, just $3500 behind John. For much of the Jeopardy
round of Game 2 Chris was able to keep up with Brad and finished it only $400
behind. After responding correctly on two clues in WORLD COINS in Double
Jeopardy he was in the lead.
Those were the only two clues he
responded correctly to that round. Brad managed one of the most dominant
performances in his entire career during Double Jeopardy, giving ten
consecutive correct responses and leaving John and Chris in the dust. Chris finished
in third place and won another $20,000.
Chris also had a marvelous sense
of humor during his interview segments. After responding correctly in a clue
about Sergeant Slaughter on Jeopardy, he took some ribbing from his friends
about knowing that. In his quarterfinal appearance he brought his Sergeant
Slaughter action figure in with him. It’s been twenty years since we’ve seen
him on Jeopardy and I’m sure he’d like to come back – he’d probably do better
if he wasn’t going to face Brad again.
JOHN CUTHBERTSON - $97,900
As I watched the Ultimate
Tournament of Champions first round unfold, I had two conflicting desires with
each set of three: those I hoped would advance and those who I thought had the
potential to advance. These two sets didn’t always overlap and quite a few of
the names in the Elite Eighteen weren’t in either initially. But one of those
that was in both was John Cuthbertson.
John’s original run in September
1993 came immediately after Brian Moore’s and he quickly became one of the
standards for great players during the 1990s. John managed to win $82,400 – the
highest amount for the 1993-1994. Indeed until the dollar figures were doubled
in the fall of 2001, only three players managed to win more in five games:
Steve Chernicoff, who I’ve discussed before, won $83,902, David Siegel who won
$86,200 nearly the end of the 1994-1995 season and Doug Lach, who won $85,400
near the end of the 1999-2000 season.
Going into the 1994 Tournament of
Champions John was one of my favorites to go the distance. He managed to win
his semi-final game against David Hillinck and Rachael Schwartz, though both
his competitors managed to advance due to the wild card. David won the first
semi-final and Rachael won the second. When it came to the third John was up
against none other than Steve Chernicoff and College Champion Jeff Stewart.
Steve led the game from the start
of the Jeopardy round until the end of Double Jeopardy and finished with $9000
to John’s $4700 and Jeff’s $4800. Then came Final Jeopardy. The category was
DEMOCRATS. “When Grandma Moses was born, this man was president; at her death,
JFK was president.” Somehow Jeff was the only one who knew the correct
Democrat: “Who is Buchanan?” John thought it was Chester Arthur (who wasn’t a
Democrat) Jeff advanced to the finals and John went home with another $5000.
Ten years later John returned to
the Jeopardy stage. His competition was not much easier than when he’d last
been on it. On his right was Bob Blake, winner of the 1990 Tournament of
Champions and a semi-finalist in Super Jeopardy. On his left was Bruce Ikawa,
who’d won $80,699 in his original appearance in 1991.
From the start of the Jeopardy
round it was a fight between Bob and John for the lead and Bob finished the
Jeopardy round ahead with $8600 to John’s $7200. (Bruce trailed with
$1400.) The back and forth continued through
most of Double Jeopardy until John managed to get nine of the last ten clues
correct, finishing by running the category PUT OUT THE GOOD SILVER and finding
the Daily Double with the last clue. He finished with $24,000 to Bob’s $18,200
and Bruce’s $9400.
The Final Jeopardy category was
12-LETTER WORDS. And it was incredibly tough: “A chemist in the 1920s coined
this term after finding lavender oil not only hid the odor of his burnt hand
but also healed it.” Nobody could come up with a correct response and when John
heard it was ‘aromatherapy’ he said: “Really!”
John bet by the far the most of his two opponents, wagered $12,500. He
was left with $11,500 and that was enough to win, getting bumped up to $15,000.
Things were no easier in Round 2
when he faced Tad Carithers, who’d beaten Leszek Pawlowicz in his first round victories
and Bob Verini, a seeded player for his victory in the 1987 Tournament of
Champions and being a runner up in the Million Dollar Masters. Tad dominated
the Jeopardy round, finishing with $9600 to John’s $2600 and Bob’s $600.
However in Double Jeopardy John managed to find a rhythm and finished with the
barest of leads, Again he found the Daily Double on the last clue of Double
Jeopardy but this time he bet just $900 and finished with $14,500 to Tad’s
$14,400. Bob loomed as a spoiler with $3000.
The Final Jeopardy category was
WORDS FROM MYTHOLOGY: “It refers to a mythical bird that calmed waves, or to
past happy ‘days’, spelled differently, it’s a sleeping pill.” This time John
knew the correct response in Final Jeopardy: “What is halcyon?” He added $8400
to his total to advance to the next round with $22,900.
I mentioned John’s appearance in
the quarterfinals in passing in the previous entry when I mentioned both April
McManus and Robert Slaven. The Jeopardy round was incredibly close and while
John was in third at the end of it, he had $4200 to April’s $5800 and Robert’s
$6600. His overall performance was limited compared to his opponents: he only
responded correctly on thirteen clues. But he didn’t get a single one wrong and
that gave him $12,800 for second to Robert’s $15,000 and April’s $11,200. And
as I mentioned he knew the correct response to Final Jeopardy, where Robert did
not. This got him into the semi-finals with another $30,000
However he was now against Brad
Rutter and Chris Miller in the two game total point affair. In the Jeopardy
round of Game 1 it seemed Brad was unstoppable: at one point he had $6800
before he found the Daily Double while John had a mere $2000. However Brad
wagered and lost $4800 and John had a chance. Indeed he finished the round
ahead of Brad with $3400 to Brad’s $3200 and Chris $1200.
John’s highpoint was when he went
on a run early in Double Jeopardy and got to the first Daily Double ahead of
Brad in SYMPHONIES. He wagered $3000:
“This Soviet superstar subtitled
his third symphony ‘May First’ It took John a moment: “Who is Shostakovich?”
Alex congratulated him as he went up to $8400. When Brad got the $1600 clue
wrong in that same category it looked like John was on track for an upset. But
then Brad went on one of his runs and he finished Double Jeopardy in the lead
with $14,200 to John’s $8000 and Chris’s $7200.
Then came Final Jeopardy. The
category was NUCLEAR POWER: “This state, besides having the first, also has the
most nuclear reactors.” Both Chris and John knew the correct state: “What is
Illinois?” (The first nuclear reactor was at developed by Enrico Fermi at the
University of Chicago.) Brad went for the other obvious state: “What is
Tennessee?” (thinking of Oak Ridge.) He lost $4200. At the end of Game 1, Brad
was tied for second with $10,000 trailing John who led with $13,500.
The Jeopardy round of Game 2 was
close from the start and Brad finished with $5400 to Chris’ $5000 and John’s
$3200. But then Brad went on his historic run and John managed to stop it when
he rang in with a correct response on the final clue of Double Jeopardy. When
Alex said humorously “Brad will never forgive you for getting in ahead of him.
You put a stop to his mo!” John joked: “On about the tenth try.” At that point
Brad had $26,600 to Chris’s $7800 and John’s $5200 and despite his effort to
drum up suspense, everyone knew who was going forward. John had to be satisfied
with coming in second and getting the minimum guarantee of $30,000, ending his
run with $97,900.
John has not been back in the
twenty years since and considering his track record against some of the
greatest Jeopardy players, including Bob Verini and Brad Rutter, both of whom
came back several times, I think it’s well past the time we saw John return for
the Jeopardy stage
JEROME VERED - $389,801
I truly have saved the best for
last. Almost from the moment the UTC began if I had been asked to name one
player who I thought could have done as well as Ken Jennings had the five game
limit not been effect, there was one name that occurred to me. And it was
Jerome.
Jerome was the first Jeopardy
player I ever watched who might very well have been a prototype for Ken
Jennings. In his five game run from May 18th to May 22nd,
1992 he was the benchmark for all great Jeopardy
champions I would see for the next decade. He won $96,801, second only to Frank
Spangenberg for most money won during the pre-2001 era. And he shattered
Frank’s one day record of $30,600 with a mark of $34,000, which stood until Ben
Sternberg broke on April 29th 2002.
I thought going in to the 1992
Tournament of Champions that Jerome would waltz to victory that year. He ran
away with his quarterfinal match and to work to beat Robert Slaven in his
semi-final game. Then he faced off against Leszek Pawlowicz and Bruce Simmons
in the finals. It was the first lesson I learned in trying to handicap a
Tournament of Champions. You can’t. Jerome ended up in third place with another
$7500.
Jerome didn’t participate in the
10th Anniversary Tournament and for reasons I have never understood
was not invited to participate in the Million Dollar Masters in 2002. Starting
on February 28, 2005 Jerome started to make up for lost time.
He faced off against 1991
Tournament of Champions Winner Jim Scott and 2000 Jeopardy Champion Michelle
Clum. Slowly but sure he built up a significant lead and while he couldn’t
quite runaway with it, he still managed an impressive finish, winning $27,601
in his first appearance.
In his second game he faced off
against Leah Greenwald, who I will write about in a different piece some day
and Sean Ryan, the first player in Jeopardy history to win six games. The
Jeopardy round was a battle between Leah and Jerome. In Double Jeopardy San
surged but Jerome maintained. He finished Double Jeopardy with $21,000 to
Leah’s $14,500 and Sean’s $9000.
The Final Jeopardy category was
20th CENTURY ASIA. “In 1942 Aung San, commander of this country’s
independence Army, married nurse Khin Kyi.” All three players knew the correct
country: “What is Burma?” (Their daughter was Aung San Suu Kyi, the future
Nobel Laureate.) Jerome won another $30,000.
In the last game of the
quarterfinals Jerome was up against his toughest opponents to date Michael
Daunt and Dan Melia. Dan had won his Round 2 match with $37,600, the highest
winnings of anyone who won a Round 2 game. Slowly but surely Jerome decimated these
two greats, finishing with the only runaway of the quarterfinals: $26,200 to
Dan and Michael’s $9200 apiece.
Final Jeopardy was an exercise
but all three players took it seriously. The category was BIBLICAL CITIES: “Of
the 10 most populous U.S. cities, the one that shares its name with a city
mentioned in Revelation.” All three players knew the correct city: “What is
Philadelphia?” Jerome wagered $6000 to finish with $32,200. Of the six players
who won quarterfinal matches, only he and Frank Spangenberg won more than the
$30,000 minimum guarantee.
Jerome would face off against
Frank and Pam Mueller in the semi-finals. In the Jeopardy round of Game 1, Pam
got off to a fast start while Jerome and Frank trailed for much of it. Jerome
managed to gain ground near the end and was in second with $5400 to Pam’s $6600
and Frank’s $2800. But in Double Jeopardy Jerome made his move, making near
runs of WORLD HISTORY and finishing with a near run and the final Daily Double
in AIRPORT NAMES. He was leading with $19,600 to Pam’s $14,200 and Frank’s
$6800.
The Final Jeopardy category was
FAMILIAR PHRASES: “This 5-word rule or maxim has been attributed to both H.
Gordon Selfridge and John Wannamaker.” Both Jerome and Frank knew the correct
response: “What is ‘The customer is always right?” Frank bet nearly everything
and Jerome was cautious and bet $3500. Pam would lose $4200. At the end of Game
1, Jerome was in the lead with $23,100, Frank was next with $13,500 and Pam
trailed with $10,000.
But all three had enough
experience in Jeopardy to know where you were at the end of Game 1 of a final
met nothing the next day. And for Jerome it definitely seemed to be the case in
the next day. All three players were about even on correct answers: Frank and
Pam each gave 18 correct responses; Jerome seventeen. But Frank didn’t get a
single clue wrong and Pam only missed 2. Jerome got four clues wrong but three
of them were in Double Jeopardy and critically two of them were $2000 clues,
one in ROSSINI OPERAS, one in ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAMERS. When Frank and
Pam found a Daily Double apiece in Double Jeopardy, at the end of the round
Jerome was in a distant third with $7800 to Pam’s $16,800 and Frank’s $18,000.
Victory seemed slim going into the critical Final Jeopardy.
The category was WORDS FROM
LATIN: “Some of the periods of time called this occurred in 304 A.D. (it lasted
4 years), 1314 (2 years), 1958 (19 days), 1963 & 2005. Even though I had
more or less lived through one I had no idea what this referred to.
Jerome’s response was revealed
first: “What is interregnum?” (In 2005, John Paul II had recently passed and
the world was living through one.) He wagered nothing. His 2-day total was
$30,900. Pam wrote down: “What are conclaves?” She knew it was wrong but time
ran out before she could come up with an alternative. She lost $11,901, leaving
her with $4899. She was clearly betting so that she would have more money than
Jerome if he had bet everything and been correct. Instead she dropped to $4899,
giving her $14,899.
It was up to Frank. He hadn’t
been able to come up with anything. He wagered $11,901. That dropped him to
$5800 and it made Jerome the first finalist in this tournament. The image below
shows how stunned he was as he gained another $50,000.
The highpoint for Jerome’s run in
the three game final was at the end of the first game when he was in second
place, slightly ahead of Ken. The totals at the end of Game 1 were very close:
Brad had $18,400, Jerome was next with $16,400, Ken was in third with $16,000.
Jerome’s struggles began in Game
2 when he went in the red on the first clue he responded to and could never
climb out. The only benefit was that Brad and Ken were not doing much better.
At the end of the Jeopardy round Brad was ahead with $4200, Ken was next with
$2400 and Jerome was at -$1400.
His fortunes improved in Double
Jeopardy when he starting in the category RICH-ARTS & ROB-ARTs and found
the first Daily Double three clues in. Still in the hole, he bet the $2000 he
was allowed:
“Around 1912 Robert Delaunay
brought color to the forefront of this -ism, thereby created Orphism.” Jerome
knew it was cubism and said afterwards he thought it would be a question about
Orphism. He did well the rest of Double Jeopardy finishing a respectable third
with $8200 to Ken’s $11,000 and Brad’s $15,000.
Final Jeopardy was the turning
point in the finals. The category was LAW & SOCIETY. “This Hollywood legend
who died January 21st, 1959 supporting placing monuments that have
since brought legal challenges.” Brad was the only contestant who knew the
correct legend: “Who is Cecil B. De Mille? (director of The Ten
Commandments. Yes even in 2005 we were struggling with those.) Jerome was
thinking of James Dean. At the end of Game 2 Jerome had $19,600 to Brad’s
$38,4000 and Ken’s $26,000.
In the third game Jerome couldn’t
even ring in at all until the 16th clue of the Jeopardy round. He
managed to get up to $2200 by the end of the round to Ken’s $4600 and Brad’s
$9800. Then during Double Jeopardy Brad effectively took command.
Jerome’s only victory was a moral
one when he got to the last Daily Double in the Tournament in ‘G’ PEOPLE. He
had just $3400 to wagered and he bet $3300.
“His triumph as Richard III in
1741 made him the leading British actor of his time.” Jerome knew it was David
Garrick and went up to $6700. But by that point Brad had all but runaway with
the game and the tournament. Jerome would have to settle for third place and a
$250,000 payday.
By that point with his combined
winnings Jerome was officially the third winningest player in Jeopardy history.
He managed to hold on to this title throughout the next eight years though
Roger Craig had come close to unseating him after his victory in the 2011 Tournament of Champions.
And for that reason, unlike every other player on this list Jerome was invited
to participate in the Battle of the Decades, representing the 1980s. (Pam
Mueller was invited back to the 2000s, no doubt because of her performance in
the Ultimate Tournament of Champions as well.)
Even though Jerome’s appearance
was against two former Tournament of Champions winners – Tom Cubbage and Bob
Verini – and even though during the first four games of Round 1, every single
player who had advanced to the quarter-finals had won the Tournament Champions
I still thought Jerome had a good chance going into the match. He had, after
all, defeated two Tournament of Champions winners just getting to the
semi-finals of the UTC and gone head to head against Brad and Ken. By contrast
both Bob and Tom had lost their first appearances in the Ultimate Tournament of
Champions. (The fact that the same could be said of every single first round
winner to that point didn’t enter into the equation; I still hadn’t learned my
lesson after twenty years.)
But from the start of the
Jeopardy round until the end of Double Jeopardy the fates seemed to be against
him. He spent almost all of the Jeopardy round in the red and only on the final
clue of the round did he move on to the positive side for good with $1000. Bob
had gotten off to a good start but it was still close: Bob had $5800 to Tom’s
$2600 and Jerome’s $1000.
Bob went on a tear early in
Double Jeopardy but Jerome rebounded by getting the last two clues correct in
1980s BOOK. He then got to the other Daily Double in FIRST LADIES’ FATHERS.
(They gave you the father; you had to identify the first lady. With $6600 in
front of him he wagered $3000 and it was another doozy:
“William Bolling, a Virginia
judge.”
Jerome staggered guessing: “Who
is Elizabeth Monroe?” Apparently his daughter with Edith Bolling, who married
Frederick Galt and who’s second husband was Woodrow Wilson. Jerome dropped to
$3600 and you could practically hear all hope drop out of his voice from that
point forward every time he rang in or selected a category.
Altogether he gave 16 correct
responses but gave six incorrect ones, including both Daily Doubles he hit.
Still a late run in PHYSICS brought him up to $8400, still in a position to
prevail as Tom and Bob were so close: Tom was at $13,000; Bob was at $14,000.
If you saw my entry on Tom on the
Battle of the Decades you know he prevailed. Jerome got a correct response in
Final Jeopardy but demonstrated an ‘impish sense of humor’ when he wagered “US
$1600.”
Indeed in addition to all his
other merits has a contestant it was fun watching Jerome play: every time the
Final Jeopardy music was player he would motion along with his head with the
final notes. And he always had wonderfully entertaining stories throughout his
run. Among his anecdotes: how a rabbi he defeated in his first game wrote about
him in his sermon on Yom Kippur, how when he went to buy candy for some
contestant in the UTC the nun told him “I’ll be praying for you” and how, after
the UTC, he wanted to buy a piano with his winnings and found out it had been
sold to the Edge. “He’s not even a piano player,” Jerome told us incredulously.
He still has an influence over Jeopardy champions to this day: Troy Meyer paid
tribute to him at the 2024 Tournament of Champions where he was seated
prominently. I think it’s well past time Jerome got to return – and I’d love to
see how he’d feel about Ken now that he’s behind the podium.
This is the end of my roster for
the UTC. In the final entry in this series I intend to deal with a category I
also ‘pre postseason postseason champions’ which will make sense when I explain
it.
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